At a minimum, you only need 4 ingredients: salmon, orange juice, lemon juice, and ghee (or butter). Of course, there’s always room for improvisation, using your favorite spices and herbs. I like to sprinkle the salmon with paprika and ground ginger for some extra flavor and sometimes I add honey to the sauce to give it added sweetness.

Let’s Make It!:

We simply heat the ghee in a cast iron skillet. While the ghee is heating, sprinkle the salmon with sea salt and choice of spices.

Stir together the lemon juice, melted ghee and orange juice in a small bowl.

Place the salmon skin-side down on the hot cast iron skillet and cook 3 to 5 minutes, until crispy. Carefully flip the salmon and cook 6 to 7 minutes. Flip one more time (back to the skin side) and cook 2 to 3 minutes, until salmon is cooked through and reaches desired level of crisp.

Remove salmon from heat and pour the citrus sauce over it. It should steam up and burn off fairly quickly.

Serve salmon with lemon and orange wedges and some chopped chives for an amazing main event.

Recipe Adaptations:

Season the salmon with your favorite dried herbs and spices.

Replace ghee with avocado oil, or almond oil (I avoid using olive oil when I’m cooking at high temperatures).

Go all-orange or all-lemon for the sauce portion of this recipe. You can also get crazy creative and use pomegranate juice, beet juice, or even mango/pineapple juice.

Add 1 Tbsp of honey or pure maple syrup to the sauce to additional sweetness. Note: if you make this addition, the recipe will no longer be keto or Whole30

Make it all in the oven by broiling on high for 10-15 minutes (depending on thickness of fish).

Serving Options:

Side dish options? I thought you’d never ask! Here are some of my recommendations for side dishes you can consume with this lemon salmon:

For the Salmon:

Orange Butter Lemon Sauce:

Instructions

Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. While oil is heating, sprinkle the salmon with paprika, ground ginger, and sea salt (or choice of spices/herbs). Stir together the ingredients for the citrus butter sauce in a small bowl or jar.

Carefully place the salmon on the skillet skin-side down. Cook until bottom turns golden brown and crispy, about 4 minutes.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and carefully flip the salmon to the flesh side. Cook an additional 3 to 4 minutes, until salmon is cooked-through.

Remove salmon from heat and pour the sauce over the salmon - this will generate some steam, so do this step carefully. Allow salmon to sit until much of the sauce has evaporated.

Girl I have been craving fish like crazy lately and this post just took it to a whole new level! I love that it can be made super easy in a skillet on the stovetop. I’ll be bookmarking this for the next time Brandon travels so I can make it for myself. 🙂